[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 43, Volume 2]

[Revised as of October 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 43CFR2812.0-6]



[Page 264-266]

 

                    TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR

 

    CHAPTER II--BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

 

PART 2810_TRAMROADS AND LOGGING ROADS--Table of Contents

 

         Subpart 2812_Over O. and C. and Coos Bay Revested Lands

 

Sec.  2812.0-6  Statement of policy.



    (a) The intermingled character of the O. and C. lands presents 

peculiar problems of management which require for their solution the 

cooperation between the Federal Government and the owners of the 

intermingled lands, particularly with respect to timber roads.

    (b) It is well established that the value of standing timber is 

determined in significant part by the cost of transporting the logs to 

the mill. Where there is an existing road which is adequate or can 

readily be made adequate for the removal of timber in the area, the 

failure to make such road available for access to all the mature and 

overmature timber it could tap leads to economic waste. Blocks of timber 

which are insufficient in volume or value to support the construction of 

a duplicating road may be left in the woods for lack of access over the 

existing road. Moreover, the duplication of an existing road reduces the 

value of the federal and other timber which is tapped by the existing 

road.

    (c) It is also clear that the Department of the Interior, which is 

responsible for the conservation of the resources of the O. and C. lands 

and is charged specifically with operating the timber lands on a 

sustained-yield basis, must have access to these lands for the purpose 

of managing them and their resources. In addition, where the public 

interest requires the disposition of



[[Page 265]]



Federal timber by competitive bidding, prospective bidders must have an 

opportunity to reach the timber to be sold. Likewise, where other timber 

is committed by cooperative agreement to coordinated administration with 

timber of the United States, there must be access to both.

    (d) Accordingly, to the extent that in the judgment of the 

authorized officer it appears necessary to accomplish these purposes, 

when the United States, acting through the Bureau of Land Management, 

grants a right-of-way across O. and C. lands to a private operator, the 

private operator will be required to grant to the United States for use 

by it and its licensees:

    (1) Rights-of-way across lands controlled directly or indirectly by 

him;

    (2) The right to use, to the extent indicated in Sec.  Sec.  2812.3-5 

and 2812.3-6, any portions of the road system or rights-of-way 

controlled directly or indirectly by the private operator which is 

adequate or can economically be made adequate to accommodate the 

probable normal requirements of both the operator and of the United 

States and its licensees, and which form an integral part of or may be 

added to the road system with which the requested right-of-way will 

connect;

    (3) The right to extend such road system across the operator's lands 

to reach federal roads or timber; and

    (4) In addition, in the limited circumstances set forth in Sec.  

2812.3-2 of this subpart the right to use certain other roads and 

rights-of-way. The permit will describe by legal subdivisions the lands 

of the operator as to which the United States receives rights. In 

addition, the extent and duration of the rights received by the United 

States will be specifically stated in the permit and ordinarily will 

embrace only those portions of such road system, rights-of-way and lands 

as may be actually needed for the management and removal of federal 

timber, or other timber committed by a cooperative agreement to 

coordinated administration with timber of the United States.

    (e) When the United States or a licensee of the United States uses 

any portion of a permittee's road system for the removal of forest 

products, the permittee will be entitled to receive just compensation, 

including a fair share of the maintenance and amortization charges 

attributable to such road, and to prescribe reasonable road operating 

rules, in accordance with Sec.  Sec.  2812.3-7 to 2812.4-4.

    (f) As some examples of how this policy would be applied in 

particular instances, the United States may issue a permit under subpart 

2812 without requesting any rights with respect to roads, rights-of-way 

or lands which the authorized officer finds will not be required for 

management of or access to Federal timber, or timber included in a 

cooperative agreement. Where, however, the authorized officer finds that 

there is a road controlled directly or indirectly by the applicant, 

which will be needed for such purposes and which he finds either has 

capacity to accommodate the probable normal requirements both of the 

applicant and of the Government and its licensees, or such additional 

capacity can be most economically provided by an investment in such road 

system by the Government rather than by the construction of a duplicate 

road, he may require, for the period of time during which the United 

States and its licensees will have need for the road, the rights to use 

the road for the marketing and management of its timber and of timber 

included in a cooperative agreement in return for the granting of 

rights-of-way across O. and C. lands, and an agreement that the road 

builder will be paid a fair share of the cost of the road and its 

maintenance. Where it appears to the authorized officer that such a road 

will not be adequate or cannot economically be enlarged to handle the 

probable normal requirements both of the private operator and of the 

United States and its licensees, or even where the authorized officer 

has reasonable doubt as to such capacity, he will not request rights 

over such a road. Instead, the Bureau will make provision for its own 

road system either by providing in its timber sale contracts that in 

return for the road cost allowance made in fixing the appraised value of 

the timber, timber purchasers will construct or extend a different road 

system, or by expending for such construction or by extension monies 

appropriated for such purposes



[[Page 266]]



by the Congress, or, where feasible, by using an existing duplicating 

road over which the Government has obtained road rights. In such 

circumstances, however, road cost and maintenance allowances made in the 

stumpage price of O. and C. timber will be required to be applied to the 

road which the Bureau has the right to use, and thereafter will not in 

any circumstances be available for amortization or maintenance costs of 

the applicant's road.

    (g) When a right-of-way permit is issued for a road or road system 

over which the United States obtains rights of use for itself and its 

licensees, the authorized officer will seek to agree with the applicant 

respecting such matters as the time, route, and specifications for the 

future development of the road system involved; the portion of the 

capital and maintenance costs of the road system to be borne by the 

timber to be transported over the road system by the United States and 

its licensees; a formula for determining the proportion of the capacity 

of the road system which is to be available to the United States and its 

licensees for the transportation of forest products; and other similar 

matters respecting the use of the road by the United States and its 

licensees and the compensation payable therefor. To the extent that any 

such matter is not embraced in such an agreement, it will be settled by 

negotiation between the permittee and the individual licensees of the 

United States who use the road, and, in the event of their disagreement, 

by private arbitration between them in accordance with the laws of the 

State of Oregon.

    (h) The authorized officer may in his discretion, issue short term 

right-of-way permits for periods not exceeding three years, subject to 

one-year extensions in his discretion. Such permits shall specify the 

volume of timber which may be carried over the right-of-way and the area 

from which such timber may be logged. The permits shall be revocable by 

the authorized officer, the State Director, or the Secretary for 

violation of their terms and conditions or of these regulations or if 

hazardous conditions result from the construction, maintenance or use of 

the rights-of-way by the permittees or those acting under their 

authority. As a condition for the granting of such permits, the 

applicant must comply with Sec.  Sec.  2812.3-1 and 2812.3-3 of this 

subpart to the extent that rights-of-way and road use rights are needed 

to remove government timber offered for sale in the same general area 

during the period for which the short term right-of-way is granted.

    (i) The authorized officer may, in his discretion, issue to private 

operators rights-of-way across O. and C. lands, needed for the conduct 

of salvage operations, for a period not to exceed five years. A salvage 

operation as used in this paragraph means the removal of trees injured 

or killed by windstorms, insect infestation, disease, or fire, together 

with any adjacent green timber needed to make an economic logging show. 

As a condition of the granting of such rights-of-way, the operator will 

be required, when the authorized officer deems it necessary, to grant to 

the United States and its licensees for the conduct of salvage 

operations on O. and C. lands for a period not to exceed five years, 

rights-of-way across lands controlled directly or indirectly by him and 

to grant the right to use to the extent indicated in Sec.  Sec.  2812.3-5 

and 2812.3-6 any portions of the road system controlled directly or 

indirectly by the private operator which is adequate or can economically 

be made adequate to accommodate the requirements of both the operator 

and of the United States and its licensees.



[35 FR 9637, June 13, 1970, as amended at 41 FR 21642, May 27, 1976]